Through the first six seasons of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, Justin Jefferson has set several NFL records, including the marks for the most receiving yards through two seasons (3,016), three seasons (4,825), four seasons (5,899), five seasons (7,432), and six seasons (8,480).
For those wondering, despite a 1,400-yard campaign in 2020, he fell short of the rookie record, which, at the time, belonged to Bill Groman, who went for 1,473 yards with the Houston Oilers in 1960 (AFL stats became NFL stats with the 1970 merger).
But Groman's record doesn't even stand anymore anyway, as Jefferson's former LSU teammate, Ja'Marr Chase, set a new mark in 2021 with 1,455 for the Bengals, and Puka Nacua reset the number yet again with 1,486 for the Los Angeles Rams in 2023. But I digress.
Now, it might surprise some to know that in his six seasons, Jefferson has only led the NFL in receiving yards once, that coming in the 2022 campaign when he won Offensive Player of the Year after posting a career-high 1,809 yards on a league-high 128 receptions.
As it stands now, that campaign is good for the sixth-best in NFL history, but Jefferson was still 155 yards behind the all-time single-season leader, that, of course, being Calvin Johnson, who tallied 1,964 yards for the Detroit Lions in 2012.
Johnson was recently asked about his record, and the Hall of Famer said he believes it likely won't last much longer. He also said that if he had to guess who would be the one to break it, he'd have to go with Nacua, which is undoubtedly a solid pick, as Puka has already racked up 4,191 yards in his three seasons.
Megatron brought Jefferson into the conversation, saying he originally thought Justin would be the one to do it, but he then also brought J.J. McCarthy into the mix and certainly didn't mince words when discussing the Vikings' QB situation.
"I thought [Jefferson] could have been one, but they messed up his quarterback situation when they brought in my man from Michigan [J.J. McCarthy] when they had [Sam] Darnold just win them 14 games. I hate seeing people get fired, but people get fired when stuff like that happens.
[Jefferson has] got the talent. What year is he in? Like six or seven? I mean, he needs to do it soon. He needs to do it soon, probably."
Justin Jefferson's best games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2025 were without J.J. McCarthy
Jefferson obviously developed some nice chemistry with Darnold during the 2024 season, having the third-best season of his career in terms of yardage with 1,533 yards on 103 catches, and also tied a career high with 10 touchdowns.
The Vikings, of course, opted to let Darnold walk into free agency last offseason to sign with the Seattle Seahawks, who (embarrassingly for Minnesota) he promptly led to a Super Bowl victory, and handed the reins to young J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury after the Vikes made him the 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft.
And as Johnson referenced, Jefferson suffered for it, as he had tallied a career-low 1,048 yards. Yes, he became just the third player in NFL history to hit the 1,000-yard mark in each of his first six seasons, joining Randy Moss and Mike Evans.
But one has to wonder if he would have done so had McCarthy, who missed seven games due to various injuries, been healthy for the entire season, as his best outings came when McCarthy was sidelined.
Jefferson hit the 100-yard mark just three times in 2025, with his two top performances coming when Carson Wentz was under center, going for 126 yards in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and 123 in Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns.
He went for 101 in the season finale against the Packers, a game McCarthy started, but some of that yardage came from Max Brosmer.
Perhaps Kyler Murray is the answer to the Vikings' problems, but maybe he's not. But Minnesota certainly needs to figure it out so as not to waste the prime years of Jefferson's career, years in which he could obviously still take a run at Johnson's record.
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